An American Abroad On This Day Of Independence

I’ve been living outside the States for more than 20 years, and, to answer the question I’m so often asked, I’ve never felt more American than I do today.

Living in the States (I lived in Baltimore, Maryland, for my first 35 years), we Americans take being American for granted. Every year since I left Baltimore, I’ve been more aware of my American-ness.

Thinking superficially, this is easy to understand. My husband and I, along with our children, lived in Ireland for seven years, long enough to acquire Irish passports even. But we’re not Irish… not really.

We were in Paris for four years, and both our children think of that city as home. It’s where our blended family bonded, where my son, Jackson, started school, and from where my daughter, Kaitlin, left our nest to start college.

We still have the apartment where we four lived together. In fact, that’s where Lief and I are hanging our hats these days. Now that our youngest child has also left the nest, Lief and I are able to move around more freely. We like Paris in the spring and summer… so here we are.

In our apartment here we store plastic tubs containing school report cards and gifts the kids made us for Mother’s and Father’s days. Indeed, everywhere we look in these 112 square meters brings back memories from when our children were young.

We love being here in Paris, but we’re surely not French.

In Panama, where we lived for the past 10 years, as in Ireland and in Paris, we put down roots. We have friends, our children have friends…

Our business is based in Panama City’s El Cangrejo neighborhood. We have an apartment on Avenida Balboa and have just finished our house on the beach at Los Islotes.

We’re in Panama for the long haul… but we’ll never be Panamanian.

No… we’re American, from our accents to our Levi’s.

And in less obvious ways, too.

When I sit down in a business meeting anywhere in the world, I’m the American at the table. I could be negotiating the cost of an apartment for sale in Buenos Aires, Argentina… considering a new business idea in Panama City, Panama… meeting with a new writer in Paris, France… or discussing residency visa options with an attorney in Medellín, Colombia.

On the other end of the conversation is an Argentine, a Panamanian, a Frenchman, a Colombian… what have you. I’m the American. And to the table I bring the American perspective.

The longer I’m outside the States, the greater has grown my appreciation for what that means and also for how unique the American perspective is.

The rest of the world doesn’t think like we Americans think. That’s neither good nor bad. It just is. And it creates an opportunity.

I have the chance, every time I engage with some non-American anywhere in the world, to learn from his non-American ways… and to put my American ways to good use.

We Americans are the world’s optimists. We believe in ourselves and in our collective ability to figure things out… to make things better… to make things work.

We’re dreamers… and wanderers. We value hard work, we like efficiency, and we pride ourselves on our willingness to act on opportunity when we perceive one.

What’s over the next hill? Let’s go find out. What could we do tomorrow that we didn’t do today? Let’s get up early in the morning and answer that question. How can we make this thing, this idea, this effort better? Let’s roll up our sleeves and see where a little elbow grease leads us…

Those are American sentiments. Wherever we travel in the world, whoever we encounter, personally or in business, these are the attitudes that we bring to the table.

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.